30 Startups to Look Out For in 2017

The startups we think are going to make a splash this year.

Startups and technology are what we do at VentureStorm, so it only felt right to present what we believe are the top startups to look out for in 2017. Any publication could look up the startups that raised the most money, or graduated from the top incubators and accelerators in the world- and throw together a list of top startups. But what fun is that?

Our team has traveled the country attending startup conferences, sponsoring hackathons, hosting meetup events, and connecting with entrepreneurs from all around the world. The result? This super awesome collection of startups that we think are going to make a huge splash in 2017.

From startups with millions in funding, to those who are bootstrapped and making every penny count. From startups with millions of users, to those who are in a private beta perfecting their product before launch. It’s not just about how far these companies are in their respective journeys, but the concepts and entrepreneurs behind them.

Without further ado, in no particular order…

Stash

I’m sure many of you have heard of the no-fee stock-trading app, Robinhood, that took the world by storm last year. However, this year be sure to look out for Stash. Fresh of a $25M Series B round, Stash is the mobile application that aims to make investing easier for those who aren’t as financially experienced. The NYC-based company has been adding 10K users per week. Check them out here.

Breather

Most people think WeWork when it comes to shared workspaces, but Breather is tackling the market in their own unique way. Breather is a mobile app that lets users find and book workspaces on-demand. The Montreal-based company operates approximately 300 spaces across 10 markets, including Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Washington DC, Toronto, and London. Whether you’re looking for space for a meeting, presentations, photoshoots, or events — a Breather is what you need.

EllieGrid

Keeping track of your medications and supplements can be a challenge, and lets be honest: those orange pill bottles are ugly. So, they challenged themselves to think outside the pillbox and created a sleek pill container. EllieGrid is designed to make medication management easy and empower people to live healthier, happier lives. Their indiegogo campaign smashed their goal of $40,000, and despite the campaign recently ending, you can still purchase their Smart Pill Boxes here.

Blurr

Blurr is an app that allows people to take and instantly share photos in a small radius directly around them. Whether it be at a wedding, frat party or sports game, they’re only connecting people that are together through not just sharing photos, but sharing their most memorable memories and experiences. With 220 ambassadors scaling 50+ universities across the nation, look forward to not missing a moment with Blurr this year!

Revolar

Revolar was created so you can live the life you want knowing that help is at your fingertips. The Revolar wearable is a small button that can attach to your clothes or keychain and is connected to your smartphone. With a simple press of the button, you can quickly check in with your chosen contacts or discreetly ask for their help via text messages and emails. Revolar wearables are available at Target, Best Buy, Brookstone, and several other stores. With features on TeenVogue and NBCNEWS.com, Revolar is poised for a big 2017.

Handshake

Handshake is a professional network and recruiting platform for employers and students to connect. With 3 million+ students, 170+ universities, and 100,000+ employers, Handshake is looking to democratize opportunity and level the playing field for students regardless of their university. Haven’t heard of them? Find your dream job or internship today here!

Contap

Contap is a rapidly growing startup whose mobile application allows users to instantly connect on all social medias. Contap aggregates your social world so you can view feeds from all your socials, make calls, email, text right from the app. Then with a single tap, allows you to connect in person or four other ways to customize exactly what you want to share with friends. Fresh off an additional $300,000 of funding, Contap looks to disrupt how millennials network in 2017.

Spotluck

Spotluck is a mobile app that allows you to discover local restaurants and save money in a fun new way. With a simple spin, Spotluckers earn preferred pricing and forgo the hassle of figuring out where to eat next! The app has been featured on CBS News, NBC, abc News, Fox, and other publications — spreading like wildfire to local restaurants all down the east coast. Expect Spotluck to feature all your favorite restaurants by the end of 2017.

Draft Fantasy

Draft Fantasy is providing a draft style fantasy experience for English Premier League fans. Players draft their own unique team and can trade amongst other owners in their league. Draft Fantasy is taking the UK (and the world) by storm. Want to manage your own football (soccer) team? Get started and enjoy 38 gameweeks of fun here.

Hollar

Hollar is the ultimate mobile destination for cool products at incredible deals starting at $2. Featuring thousands of items from toys and electronics to home, beauty and apparel — including unique curated gift and party collections. The ‘online dollar store’ has over a million users and thousands of awesome items for you to discover.

Walla

Walla is a mobile app that allows college students to create open-invite hangouts with friends on campus. The app won the Duke Startup Challenge in fall 2016 and has been improving ever since. Walla is bringing like-minded people together to create meaningful, enriching relationships on college campuses. Want to bring it to your university? Download the app and contact them to request it at their school here!

Notion

Welcome to the future! Notion introduces personalized AI for a beautiful new email experience. Elegant inbox management, innovative conversation tracking, and relationship insights will help you love email. With Amazon’s Echo, powered by Alexa, flying off their warehouse shelves, now’s the perfect time to fall in love with Notion.

Vea Fitness

Enjoy working out? Want to be rewarded for all your hard work? Vea Fitness is the only app that gives you monetary rewards for crushing workouts! Just select a challenge, walk / run / bike the distance, and redeem exclusive, high-quality discounts and gift cards at top retailers like Saucony, New Balance, Athleta, PacSun, and many more. How’s that for a 2017 new years resolution.

Heal

Heal is an on-demand doctor service that allows you to schedule licensed primary care physicians to come to your home, office, hotel, or wherever you are! Whether you are sick, or just in need of a physical — Heal allows you to remain in the comfort of your own home and let the doctors come to you. Although they are based in California for now, with 10,000 patients, they will be looking to expand to a home near you this year!

Remote Year

Remote Year is a program for digital nomads to travel the world while working remotely. Participants spend one month in each of the 12 cities around the world as they work for their employer remotely. This startup is just cool as hell, and you can follow their journey on Instagram — so it’s literally a company you can look out for in 2017. Applications are now open here.

Chatfuel

Chatfuel makes it easy for everyone to build chatbots on Facebook Messenger, where their users include NFL and NBA teams, publishers like TechCrunch and Forbes, and millions of others. More than 360,000 bots have been created on the platform, and they see more than 1 million daily active users. Best of all, there’s no coding required and it’s entirely free! Hello!

LiberWave

There are several textbook platforms available for the college market; however, LiberWave is incredibly intuitive and seamless. LiberWave is a proximity based, student to student buying and selling textbook and class note application for university students. The goal is to have students spend less and earn more on college textbooks. The app is currently focused on their user base at Texas universities, but looking to expand to additional schools this year!

Petcube

Petcube is a global leader in Connected Pet, defined at the intersection of Connected Home and pet care. Its first product, Petcube Camera, is an interactive pet camera that lets pet owners see, talk to and play with their pets remotely from their smartphone. They’ve even got a new interactive pet camera that lets you treat and train your pet from anywhere… hitting the shelves in 2017!

Revl

GoPro has been struggling as of late, so Revl is looking to claim the throne as the world’s smartest action camera. Revl combines physical and digital stabilization to make its footage extra smooth, and also offers automatic editing software so you can share your best moments without having to sit down at a computer for boring manual video editing. Their indiegogo campaign raised more than 5x their goal!

OneH

OneH is building an intelligent marketplace that actively understands its investors and suggests new companies for them to review based on their core interests. The platform also offers news and an investor relations system for startups that comes with its own transaction portal to raise capital from investors around the world. Launching in early 2017, you could become one of the first members of the intelligent marketplace by signing up here!

Privacy

Privacy makes online payments safe and easy, with a new virtual card for each place you pay online. You don’t use the same password for every website, so why would you use the payment information? After raising $2.2M led by Index Ventures, it looks like shopping online just got a whole lot safer in 2017.

Touchlight Innovations

TouchLight Innovations is a pioneer in harvesting lost energy from people’s motion. Their Power Pad Technology is a ground breaking innovation in the field of mechanical energy harvesting. They can convert single steps in moderate to heavy traffic locations to 10 Watt-Min of power — allowing building owners to save up to $80K annually from their utility bill! The team looks to launch their product this year, in what they believe could be one of the biggest product launches in green technology.

Houseparty

I remember the first time I FaceTimed someone on my iPhone years ago… and wow I thought that was pretty cool. That was until Houseparty showed up uninvited and brought the ruckus. The app allows contacts to drop in and out of video chats seamlessly — the kicker being that you can video chat with up to 8 people! You don’t want to be the only one not invited to the party, so check it out and download it here.

Brainbuild

Brainbuild, Inc. is a technology company that automates nutrition planning for collegiate and professional athletes. By analyzing users’ personal and training schedules, their mobile app sends athletes real-time reminders paired with dietitian-backed food suggestions at the most optimal times each day. They have partnered with student athletes from Cornell, Duke, Columbia, and Cal to name a few, and look to continue to bring their AI to athletes around the country.

Gametime

The Gametime app allows people to find last-minute tickets for live sports and entertainment and easily share them with friends. While taking advantage of the mobile market, they make buying and selling tickets easier than ever, allowing users to capitalize on last minute prices. The app has raised north of $33M and is spreading like wildfire.

Morning Brew

Morning Brew is a business news and educational content company with the purpose of connecting college students with the business world in a way that engages, educates and inspires. Their daily e-mail newsletter provides the business-interested college student with a concise and conversational four-minute read about all things business. As someone who’s personally relied on the Morning Brew to get my day started for the past 16 months, I can’t imagine a better way to get my daily dose of business each morning. Sign up to their mailing list here.

What Tax Form

Taxes may not be the sexiest thing in the world, but they are certain (as well as death… thanks Benjamin Franklin). What Tax Form was created to help understand the confusing language in required paperwork. By creating the pre-step to tax platforms, What Tax Form is the ideal middle between Payroll and Accounting systems.

Startup Island

Startup Island is a travel program connecting young entrepreneurs through shared experiences. They organize college spring break trips to Costa Rica — establishing meaningful connections within a thriving ecosystem of young people ready to do big things. I think one of the most underrated aspects of entrepreneurship is the value of establishing networks and meaningful relationships.

Detrapel

Accidents happen, but maybe liquid spills could be a worry of the past. Detrapel is a liquid repellent product that protects any material from ever getting wet or dirty. The team has redesigned everything from their logo to their market strategy — and is set to have a massive 2017. The product takes advantage of proprietary nanotechnology to protect your valuables from all types of liquid, dirt, mud, cement, ultra violet lighting, rust, ice, and more!

Bound

You can always count on someone in your friend group to be late when you’re meeting up. Now you can provide a real incentive to be on time with Bound. Bound is an app that revolutionizes the way users attend meet ups — making planning a breeze and assures that users arrives on time through a financial incentive. The app has generated a lot of buzz, and looks to go live early 2017!

Originally published at blog.venturestorm.com on January 11, 2017.